Bonds Unbroken
by geeklover89
Summary: Kratos has made a lot of enemies, including Lloyd, but when a group of bandits kidnap his son to get to him will he be able to redeem himself? And why is Zelos acting so strange?
1. Chapter 1

Genis was, out of the two of them, always the first to wake up. Although that wasn't saying much since Lloyd really, _really_ liked to sleep and would probably go all day if someone wasn't there to give him a friendly kick in the ribs. So saying that Genis was shocked when his eyes finally fluttered open to see his best friend already fully awake and staring intensely at the newly resurrected camp fire was a major understatement. For a second all the white haired sorcerer could do was blink, as though what he saw in front of him was just a dream induced hallucination that would go away if he could flutter his lashes fast enough. After attempting this for a little while though it became apparent that the strangeness in front of him was in fact real.

Cautiously sitting up Genis cleared his throat, "Lloyd."

The red clad swordsman put a finger to his lips flicking his eyes back and forth over the younger boy's shoulder. Genius immediately reached for his kendama and slid next to his best friend. "What is it Lloyd? Do you sense something? Are we under attack? Why aren't your swords drawn?"

A soft chuckle escaped Lloyd's lips as he looked at Genis's furrowed brow and, in response to his chuckle, scowl.

"What's so funny?" the younger boy snapped eyes still flitting across the horizon searching for danger.

Lloyd ignored the anger from the white haired mage and instead smiled fondly at him, "There's no danger Genis."

"Then why did you shush me?" Genis asked a little put out. He had never known his friend to tell him to do things without good reason.

"I was thinking and I didn't want you to break my train of thought." The swordsman shrugged and went back to staring at the fire.

Genis couldn't help but blink stupidly at his friend- the irony of the situation didn't dawn on him till much later though- as though seeing him for the first time. He was sitting on the ground a few feet away from the fire leaning against a tree with one leg folded under him and the other bent and pulled up next to his face. His right arm rested on his bent knee while the other gripped the twin blade swords that rested in his lap. Soft brown eyes that usually held a casual, carefree warmth now stared unseeing and troubled at the dancing ball of red and yellow before him. The young mage was baffled. He had never before seen his friend so still yet so concentrated before. Normally, if Lloyd was that still it meant that he was sleeping.

Lowering his kendama Genis moved to sit fully beside his friend. He had an idea of what might be bothering the red clad swordsman. Shooting a glance sideways he swallowed before speaking. "Is this about Kratos being your father?"

Lloyd didn't say anything. Genis felt Lloyd stiffen however and the former didn't need to look at the latter to know that his eyes had suddenly became guarded. For a long time they sat there in a tense silence. Finally Lloyd stood up and began to gather his things.

"We shouldn't stay here. Come on, we're almost there. If we press on for the rest of the day then we should get to Altessa's house before night fall." Walking over to a bucket of water they had gathered the night before Lloyd picked it up and threw it on the fire causing it to sizzle and pop and finally die.

Silence fell between them again as they started packing up the remains of their camp. Genis kept shooting glances at Lloyd hoping to catch a smile or a joke or the slightest release of tension from his shoulders. The young mage sighed when he got none and mentally berated himself. Why did he have to bring up the mercenary? Why couldn't he just keep his big mouth shut and wait, like Raine had said, until his friend was ready to talk? Why hadn't he, for once, put his stupid smarts and childish behavior on the backburner? He had known that his incessant need to know everything would get him in trouble one day, but…

Genis sighed again as he tucked his kendama under his shirt, hoisted his share of the load on his back and waited for the now distant swordsman to gather up his own pack before they started out again.

The white haired mage watched his friends stepped slightly ahead of him. He knew he would have to apologize to Lloyd. Right now though he allowed the swordsman to take the lead as Genis himself fell back and stayed silent. It hurt that his friend had suddenly become distant. He couldn't afford to think about that right now though.

Navigating the Gaoracchia forest was not an easy feat on a normal day. Genis was not going to complicate it by forcing a sensitive subject on Lloyd's already heavily laden shoulders. He also didn't want Lloyd to get distracted and loose there way.

'I promise though' he thought, a new determination in his eyes picking up the pace to walk by Lloyd's side, 'once we get reach Ozette I'm gonna do everything I can to make it up to him. I'll just give him some time to calm down.'

After all, the sun was just peaking over the horizon and Lloyd said that they wouldn't by getting to Altessa's until after dark so they had plenty of time to work this out.

Right?

Lloyd knew that Genis didn't mean anything other than concern when he had asked Lloyd about Kratos.

But.

He couldn't get it out of his head.

He couldn't stop thinking about how casually the mercenary had laid claim to the younger swordsman after everything he had done to them and then turn around and expect the other to understand.

Not that Lloyd didn't understand. No. Lloyd understood perfectly Kratos's intentions and thinking and planning. But it didn't make it hurt any less.

Lloyd's irritated huff shattered the otherwise silent forest. This was so stupid. He had more important things to worry about then Kratos or his stupid Angelus project. Colette and the others were waiting for them at Altessa's house to get back with the medicine for Raine. And yet. Every time he would try to think his brain would somehow always circle around to the red-headed mercenary.

Shaking his head to try and clear out the unwanted thought Lloyd decided to focus instead on not getting himself or Genis lost. He was silently glad when the young mage slipped up beside him as they walked. He might have been upset at Genis for bringing Kratos up, but he by no means hated the boy, nor did he want to lose his friendship. And, truth be told, the young boys presence was comforting to him.

They continued forward for almost an hour, winding through trees and almost tripping over stumps, before he heard it. A twig snapped loudly off to his left causing both him and Genis to freeze. That sound was too loud to have been made by an animal. Another snap sounded this time prompting the two to draw their weapons. Moving slowly into a crouching position both boys carefully made their way away from the sound and down another path of the forest. Lloyd's eyes darted around them in an attempt to spot whatever it was that made the sound, but his brown irises skated over nothing but green. For a split second Lloyd turned slightly to look at the path they were backing up towards, it would take them the long way through the forest, in the complete opposite direction they had been heading, but they might be able to confuse whatever it was in the woods.

Suddenly the world around them exploded. Men came bursting out of the trees guns and blades drawn and at the ready.

"Genis, run." Lloyd shouted at his friend and turned to do the same. He froze in his tracks. They were surrounded.


	2. Chapter 2

Kratos was starting to get worried.

Standing outside of Altessa's house he let his eyes wonder over the tree line of the Gaoracchia Forest looking for the discoloration that could only come from manmade (or in Lloyd's case dwarven made) clothes. They should have been back by now.

When Raine collapsed from fever and exhaustion they had split up into teams of two a set off in search of a cure: Presea and Regal heading to the mountains, Zelos and Sheena to Meltokio, and Lloyd and Genis to the forest thereby leaving Kratos, still recovering from his own battle wounds, to take care of Raine with Altessa and Tabatha.

The others had returned some time ago.

Luckily Raine's sickness was not as severe as they thought and the cure not as uncommon. In fact it had only required a little bit of the herb that Zelos and Sheena returned with to make her better again. _Well_ he thought with a small shrug _at least we have a full supply now what with all the medicine the others brought back as well_. The thought was not comforting as it should have been as his eyes once again slid over the tree line in an attempt to spot any trace of the red or blue of his traveling companions.

Companions?

Could he still use that word when it came to Lloyd? True he had been out of the boy's life for, well, _all_ of his life and had only come back to use them to try and revive Martel, but as they traveled he couldn't help but feel a connection to his own flesh and blood building. Now that Lloyd knew his secret he had hoped to be able to talk with the young swordsman. He wanted to explain everything to his son, to apologize for all those years he had missed out on. He wanted to share his memories of Anna with the boy to let him know that he was everything to her and that she would gladly make the same choses again just to keep him safe.

There was just one problem though.

Ever since Yuan's unexpected announcement of their relationship Lloyd had been avoiding Kratos like the plague. In fact whenever the two were in the same room together the mercenary could literally feel the waves of hate and frustration rolling of the boy in waves of ever changing intensity; it was as though the boy was not only fighting with his feelings for the older man but also his feelings for himself and how he _should_ be feeling. It twisted Kratos's heart to know that he was the cause of such intense pain. And he wasn't the only one who noticed.

Raine, before she got sick, had personally pulled him aside after an especially nasty spat he had had with Zelos after the mercenary had tried to council Lloyd on a rather tough decision involving Colette's safety; she had told him that he had no right to counsel Lloyd on _anything _and that if he didn't want her to join Zelos in 'beating the shit out of him' (as the Tetha'allan chosen had put it) then he would stay away from the boy until he was ready to talk. At first Kratos had been annoyed that the others were getting involved in what he preserved to be personal business, but over time he came to realize that these people were more than just friends to his son, they were his family. The family that Kratos had never and probably would never be able to give him.

Sighing deeply Kratos rubbed his hand over his face. He had really fucked up.

The soft crunch on boots on gravel pulled him from his thoughts. Lifting up his head he shot a glance to the side and was surprised to see Zelos walking up to him. Ice blue eyes stared deeply troubled into space. His left hand curled into a fist under his chin and his pointer finger rested against his lips in contemplation while his right hand was on its opposing partners elbow. Zelos's normal pink shirt was missing and had been replaced with a white sleeveless undershirt that looked that much whiter on top of his long dark pants. His girlishly long hair was pulled up into a pony tail, although a few stands seemed to have escaped and were cascading down his face to lay flat against his slightly tanned skin as though it just didn't have the energy to bounce into its normal curl.

Kratos waited patiently for the chosen to reach where he was standing. He used that time to fully take in the worried look in those blue eyes and tenseness in the other man's shoulders. He felt his own eyes narrow.

He waited for the chosen to draw level with him, noticing the way those orbs of blue focused just enough to quickly scan the horizon, before speaking.

"Is everything alright?"

Zelos jerked out of his reverie and shook his head slightly before moving the hand on his chin to rest on his opposing elbow and glancing at Kratos. Any worry that had clouded them before was gone and replaced with guarded look of distrust and contempt. "Raine is fine, but she is starting to get worried. And frankly so are the rest of us."

There was something in his tone that made Kratos glance at the chosen of Tetha'alla a kind of clipped defensiveness. There was also something in his eyes that put Kratos on edge, a kind of protectiveness that Kratos recognized almost instantly. But. He mentally shook himself. No, he wouldn't believe it.

A low crack pulled the two red heads attention away from their mini stare down at toward the forest. Neither said anything as their eyes darted from tree to tree. Suddenly Zelos pointed toward a small gathering of bushes and ivy that encircled a gnarled looking old tree that had long ago fallen over and now made a sort of overhang for the ivy to cascade down. For a long tense minute nothing moved. Then there was a slight ripple amongst the tendrils and a spot of white flashed against the dark green.

"Genis." Zelos shot off before Kratos could stop him. And then he took off after him.

As he got closer and closer to the forest and the small bob of white hair coming out of it he suddenly realized something. The white haired boy was all alone. And injured if is stumbling was anything to go by.

Just as Zelos reached the young mage the boy's legs suddenly seemed to be unable to hold up the battered body anymore and he collapsed into the dirt. The red headed chosen skidded to a halt next to the child's crumpled body, Kratos not far behind.

"Genis!" Zelos quickly turned the boy over and rested his head in his lap, "Genis can you hear me?" he shook the young mages shoulders.

Genis whimpered softly and pulled away.

"Whoa, whoa Genis it's me, Zelos." Zelos tried to pull the boy closer to his body but it only made the young mage struggled harder.

"Let him go Zelos." Kratos gently laid his hand on the chosen's shoulder, "He's been hurt bad by someone, if he thinks he is not fully aware of his surrounding and thinks he is still being attacked then no matter what we try to do he will pull away." As gently as he could Kratos slipped Genis's body from Zelos's lap so he was lying on the ground and slid up beside the boy.

Leaning down close he gently whispered to the semi-conscious boy. Genis's eyes were closed but he still whimpered and pulled away as he felt the mercenary's presence, "Genis, it's okay. You're okay now no one is going to hurt you." Kratos ignored the slight twinge of black and blue starting to form on Genis's cheek. "Can you open your eyes for me Genis?"

Genis seemed to still as though he was trying to process the words spoken to him. Then he twitched and, we great difficulty, let his eyes flutter open.

"Hey kiddo." Zelos leaned over Genis so the boy could see him.

"Zel-Zelos?" the boy's voice was raspy and harsh but it suddenly became determined and almost desperate as he recognized the man in front of him, "Zelos, you have to save him."

"Genis, it's alright, calm down. Tell us what happened."

"They took him." Genis suddenly lurched up and grabbed Zelos's shirt, "You have to find him, please, they said they'd kill him." His eyes were wide and panicked and for a second it looked as though he was going to get up and shake the chosen. But then his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out cold.

Zelos looked first at Kratos, then the boy, then the forest his eyes growing wide as the gravity of Genis's words dawned on him.

Kratos felt his own heart plummet. The boy hadn't said who was taken but they both knew.

**A/N**

**I am so sorry if this chapter sucks. I'm ashamed to say that I seemed to have lost my inspiration to write. Review and feedback are much appreciated and I will take any suggestions into consideration.**

**Thank you for your patience and again I apologize profusely. **


	3. Chapter 3

"Wake-y, wake-y little boy." Lloyd grunted softly as something tapped his stomach. Figuring it was just Genis Lloyd pressed his eyes shut and buried his head into the floor. He was too tired.

An annoyed growl came from somewhere above him. "I said wake up!" At the word 'up' a sudden explosive pain ripped through Lloyd stomach. Brown eyes flew open and nearly popped out of his skull. The pain continued deep into the soft flesh of his stomach and it felt as though all the air had been forcibly ripped out of his lungs. He immediately began trying to pull it back in. He opened his mouth to breathe in the precious oxygen that his body needed and inhaled deeply. But something was wrong. Nothing came in. instead of the comforting sensation of air rushing over his tongue he felt a large mass resting between his lips and stretching almost all the way to the back of his throat. Instinctively he tried to spit the foreign object out. It was choking him and blocking off his air and he needed to get it out right now. But it wouldn't budge.

Lloyd was beginning to panic. He could hear the blood from his heart rushing in his ears as its beat began to pick up. His lungs were burning and pulling at his airway as though inside of them was some desperate creature trying to claw its way up his throat and out into the air. A horrible hissing noise resonated in his head as his nose tried to compensate for the lack of oxygen his mouth was giving him by doubling its own intake. Every other intake of panicked breath causeing one of his nostrils to collapse. He could feel his body shaking now as his a wave of lightheadedness took over causing his vision to explode in a torrid of black and white spots. As a last ditch effort to rid his mouth of the monstrous thing he rammed his face into the ground and began whipping it back and forth in the gravel.

Something gripped his arm and ripped him away from the ground but Lloyd didn't notice. Hot streams of tears were rolling down his face blurring his already darkening vision. He squeezed his eyes shut. His jaws clamped down on the obstruction. He was going to die. Wherever he was he was going to die.

Suddenly there was a sharp tug on the thing between his teeth. Loosening his jaws the thing flew out of his mouth and replaced by the wonderful, clean sharpness of air. He gasped violently, his mouth stretching open impossibly wide to get in as much of the precious commodity as possible. Unfortunately, the sudden reversal of air flow into his lungs made the organs convulse in shock causing him to cough and sputter. Tears leaked faster down his cheeks as the oxygen refused to stay in his body.

A soft voice whispered in his ear, "Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay just breathe with me." There was a soft inhalation from somewhere behind and above Lloyd's head and he felt his body move with the rising and falling chest. He was still too panicky to really notice though. The voice shushed him again. Fingers ran through his hair. "It's okay, it's okay, come on breathe, come on, in-" the chest under Lloyd's head moved up with the motion- "and out," before sinking back into the speaker.

This happened again and again; as the speaker would breathe in Lloyd's head moved up and away, as the speaker would breathe out Lloyd's head would sink further into the warm, soft chest. After a while his own body began to copy the rhythm. In. Out. In. Out.

As his body began to relax his own chest began to expand and contract with the healthy regulation of air circling and flowing through his mouth, down his trachea, and into his lungs where it was absorbed into his alveoli and fed into his bloodstream before being replaced with carbon dioxide to be expelled in the reverse.

The lightheadedness slowly subsided as did his tears allowing him to return to a state of semi awareness (his brain was still to oxygen depleted to allow for full cognitive recuperation). With this new sense of awareness came a sudden realization. He was being held by someone. His eyes popped open.

From his position he could see that he was kneeling on the ground of what looked like a dirty warehouse. He could see his thighs curled underneath him. He blinked. Was that rope? A hand carding through his hair brought his attention back to the person in whose arms he currently lay. The person had wound an arm around the front of his waist, which Lloyd now was doubled over onto, while the other laid gently across his back allowing the hand attached to it to rub at the red clad back, neck, and, every once I a while, hair.

Whispers of encouragement filled his ear again. Hot breath tickled the back of his neck. The soft pitter-patter of the slightly racing heart beat through the shirt he leaned against.

His brain tried to piece together what it meant but a strange tiredness had come over him. His body seemed to sag into the other body as his eyes began to flutter. The arms around him responded and pulled the swordsman closer into the soft chest and tucked the brunette's head under their owner's chin.

Lloyd felt himself start to rock ever so slightly. It reminded him of his dad, Dirk, when a much younger Lloyd used to get nightmares. Subconsciously he snuggled his face into his unknown comforter's shirt. His eyes felt heavy. Oh so heavy.

Taking one last breath, he let them slid close.

Champ waited a few minutes to make sure that the boy in his arms was truly asleep before attempting to move. Gently picking Lloyd up off his left arm, which was still around the boy's waist, he placed the boy's face in the crock of his neck and leaned him into his shoulder. Champ shivered slightly at the closeness of the boy's lips to the skin of his neck. Ignoring the sensation, Champ slid his arm down Lloyd's back to support the smaller body as he reached over to grab the gag again. Picking it up he took a moment to look at it.

It was a wide piece of leather that had covered the boy's entire mouth from just above the chin to just below the nose. It was also thick to prevent the boy from crying out and getting someone's attention, not like the long, black banana like protrusion in the center of the leather strap wouldn't do that. Looking at the banana like thing Champ could just make out the granules of dirt and debris that had coated it and stuck to the kid's saliva when Champ had thrown it on the ground during the kid's panic attack.

He wiped it as best he could on his pants. He then put one piece of the strap in his mouth so that he could hold onto it without having to put it on the ground again.

Turning back to the still sleeping Lloyd he readjusted his hold so that his hands rested on the boy's slender hips (he had to repress a shudder again) and moved himself so that he was positioned behind the boy. Resting Lloyd's body against his chest Champ removed the leather from his mouth, reached around Lloyd to grab the other end with his free hand, and positioned the tip of the black banana in front of the slightly parted lips.

Champ's chest heaved slightly as his thumb brushed against the full, wet lips and he licked his own in anticipation. _Just think Champ_ he thought to himself _what would it be like?_ Almost involuntarily his thumb reached out again, this time sliding sensually down the unconscious brunette's cheek. Lloyd's lips parted a little more and he groaned turning his face into the touch.

Champ jerked at the reaction. _No_.

Swallowing thickly Champ squashed his feelings down. How old was this boy? Fifteen? Sixteen? Either way he was much too young and innocent and most certainly not his target and the sooner the Champ did this the sooner he wouldn't have to put up with temptation. As carefully as he could, so as not to wake the boy or induce another panic attack, Champ raised his shoulder slightly so that Lloyd's head was flat and slid the black banana into his mouth. Making sure that the leather was pulled flush to the boy's face Champ then bent Lloyd forward slightly before threading the buckle and pulling it tight. Lloyd's moan of discomfort was lost in the leather. He didn't wake up though.

Pulling Lloyd back into his body Champ lifted him slightly before scooping up the boy's legs and standing. Cradling the boy to his body he walked over to a door so well hidden within the wood that even if someone were looking for it it would be easy to miss. Champ, however, knew exactly where he was going and had been here enough times (with other packages) to know that his feet would automatically lead him to the right spot, so when he arrived at the splitting wood he wasted no time in leaning his shoulder into the door and pushing it open.

Just inside the unknown (to the owners anyway) add on was a set of stairs that led down into a whole other underground living facility. This facility was mainly composed of a long always that led off to a dozen or more separate rooms on both the right and left side with one particularly large door at the end of the hallway. It looked like an old prison cell block. The hallway was silent as Champ carried Lloyd down the many open doors; only once did he hear a commotion, but it was coming from the end of the hall so he ignored it. Finally coming to the room he was looking for Champ stopped and eased the door a little further open with his foot. Stepping into the room he quickly crossed to the lone bed in the left hand corner (the only piece of furniture in the room) and laid Lloyd on top of it.

As soon as the boy hit the bed Champ turned and left. Closing the heavy, iron door tightly and locking it he spared one last glance at the sleeping boy, forcing down the heat that pooled in his stomach, then turned to continue his way down the hall.

He didn't even knock when he reached the door. He opted instead to throw it open with a bang. The laughter and gossip of the twenty or so men sitting around the loan table off to the right stopped. Some faces turned toward him. Most looked down at the cards in their hands. A single man rose from his chair and sauntered his way over to Champ.

"What's the matter Champion?" he whispered softly as he placed a hand on Champ's shirt and leaned into his body.

Champ smiled gently at the young man. He was only twenty-two. The rest of the men at the table shivered.

Bringing his hands up to rest on the youth's hips pulling him closer, "Nothing my sweet, I was just wondering about the little incident upstairs."

The men at the table shrunk further into their seats.

"You mean the little brat?" the young man chuckled softly as he wrapped his hands around Champ's neck. Nobody at the table was looking at them now. "He wouldn't listen."

Champ's arms circled the man's waist to pull the younger body flush against him, "So you decided to punish him?" His voice was quiet and low causing a shiver to spread through everyone except the painfully oblivious one currently in his arms.

The young man hummed the affirmative gently placing a kiss on his older lover's lips.

Champ sighed.

He had been right about this one.

Too young.

Stepping back from the man he brought his hand to his shoulder and laid it on top of the man's interlocking their fingers. Pulling gently he led the way out the door and back down the hall, the young man bouncing excitedly along behind him.

The men at the table continue to play cards as the door swung against the frame with a loud thump before bouncing back leaving it slightly ajar. Turns past and bets lost, though not many of them noticed, and with every passing moment the tension rolled off of them like mist. They were waiting for something.

Suddenly from down the hall came a loud ear splitting scream of pain. In almost an instant the tension vanished only to be replaced with a cross between fear and relief.

Fear of what was happening down the hall, and relief that whatever it was was not happening to them. They would live to see another day.

**Longest chapter EVER!**

**I hope you all like it, I was trying something new so feedback is much appreciated.**

**A special thank you to Lady Trollkastdelata for her help on this chapter.**

**Oh as I forgot to mention before, this story is for Month4 as a request.**


	4. Chapter 4

"_Genis, run!" Lloyd's voice sounded frantically from somewhere behind the young mage but Genis had more pressing concerns. The men who had them completely surrounded and outnumbered wasted no time in launching their assault. Two of them charged at the mage, knives drawn. Genis barely had time to put up his shield before they were on him. Energy cracked and sparks flew around him as steel bounced off the force field, the sound deafened only by the distant clang of swords fighting for dominance. From the corner of his eye he could just make out the red flash that was Lloyd, but he knew better then to take his eyes off the enemies in front of him. More and more of them were joining the fight and they were coming at him so fast he almost didn't have enough time to protect himself let alone go on the offensive. Instead the most he _could_ do was hop continually from spot to spot throwing up a shield that was getting weaker and weaker by the second._

_He was running out of energy._

_His magic was being extended to fast._

_A loud yelp sounded from somewhere behind him. He recognized it as Lloyd and for a brief second Genis let his eyes dart to the left in an attempt to see his best friend._

_That one second loss of concentration was all it took…_

"LLOYD!"

Raine flew out of her seat by the window so fast that if anyone was watching the only thing they would see would be a streak of white. She skidded to a stop by her brother's bed. She was forced to take a step back to avoid missing her brother's flailing arms. When the danger had passed she all bug flung herself onto the bed gripping the young boy's shoulders tightly.

"Genis!" she shook him, "Genis, wake up!"

The unconscious boy took no notice of his sister as he continued to thrash around.

"LLOYD, LLOYD."

There was a loud slam and the sound of running. Raine didn't even notice. She gripped her brother's shoulders tighter.

"LLOYD, WAKE UP."

Raine shook the boy again in a desperate attempt to wake him. Genis only struggled harder. His cries broke her heart into a thousand pieces. And her magic was completely useless.

Out of the corner of her eye a sudden splash of pink appeared on the opposite side of the bed. Raine didn't need to look up to know that it was Presea and for a moment she let her mind question why the young axe wielder was there beside her, then Genis cried out again.

The half-elf was turning desperate. She could feel her little brother shaking underneath her hands as sobs wracked his small body. Screams of terror and fear had dissolved into wails of sadness and pain that Raine knew could only come from a person whose heart had been ripped out.

Jealously and anger shot through her as she thought of the boy who at times seemed more like Genis's brother then his best friend. The one who at some times seemed to have more of his heart then she. She shoved it away. It would not help her little brother now. She gripped the smaller boy's shoulders tighter.

"Genis?"

Raine blinked. The gentle calling of her little brother's name had not come from her. Raising her gaze from the distressed face Raine watched as Presea lent carefully forward calling the name softly again.

Genis's breath hitched.

Presea took the younger boy's hand in hers.

"Genis," she called again, "Genis can you her me?" The still unconscious mage whimpered slightly and turned his head toward the girl. His body was still shaking, but he was slowly stopping his struggle against his sister's hands. Presea continued, "Genis, if you can hear me, I know your scared and hurt and worried about Lloyd and we want to help you, we really do, but for us to do that you need to wake up. We need you to open your eyes and tell us what happened."

By now the unconscious mage had stopped squirming.

"Genis?" Raine move her hands from her brother's shoulders and grasped his hand.

Hearing his sister's voice seemed to spark something. Scrunching up his nose and arching his back slightly off the mattress, Genis moaned softly as his eyelids quivered.

"That's it Genis, you can do it." Presea encouraged anxiously. White lashes fluttered.

A hand suddenly reached down and rested on the struggling boy's forehead.

Raine's head snapped up. Zelos ignored the healers, and really everyone else's, look of confusion, choosing instead to focus on Geins.

"It's okay Genis, you can wake up now." Blue eyes snapped open, breath hitching at the new voice. Whipping his head around Genis locked eyes with Zelos. Upon seeing the chosen his eyes began to water. Zelos leaned in closer to the mage; his red ponytail falling over his shoulder, he threw it back, "Take your time," he hid the tightness he felt, "don't force yourself."

Taking no heed to the chosen's words the newly conscious boy shot up, grabbed Zelos's arm, and pulled him closer. Raine could see the glazed, pancaked look in her little brother's eyes; she doubted very much if he could actually see any of them though. He was shaking again and holding the red-head's arm so tightly that his knuckles were going white.

"Zelos, Lloyd, he took him."

Zelos tensed, "Who Genis? Who took him?"

Genis's grip tightened, "He told me, he told me that if…if Kratos didn't come…Lloyd, he would have to play with Lloyd."

The red-head tensed further, leaning closer so that their foreheads were almost touching, "Who Genis, who took Lloyd?" Raine head the urgency in his voice and as much as she wanted to tell Zelos to leave her brother be, that he needed his rest, she couldn't help but lean forward, hanging on her brother's next words.

Tears began spilling over the boy's cheeks, "Champ," he swallowed thickly, "his name is Champ…I'm sorry Zelos."

A soft smile ghosted over the chosen's face and some of the tension left his body to be replaced by an aura of sadness, "Don't worry, we'll get him back, it wasn't your fault."

Genis shook his head slowly, "No it isn't."

His eyes slid closed again.

Kratos was leaning against Altessa's table when Zelos and the others returned from Genis's room. Zelos walked right up to the table, stopped in front of the mercenary, and slammed his hand on the table. "Who is Champ?"

Anger laced the chosen's voice. Kratos's head snapped up.

"Champ?"

"Don't mess with me Kratos, Genis told us that Champ told him that if you didn't come he would have to play with Lloyd so don't you try to tell me you don't know who he is."

All the color drain out of Krato's face. His eyes scanned the chosen's face. "I do know him, or at least I used to know him."

Zelos waited for further explanation, "We met many years ago, after I had first lost Anna, he was into some less than favorable things and I used him as an outlet for my rage for Anna's death. I almost killed him. He swore revenge on me, but I never believed he would be callous enough to involve anyone else in our feud."

"It seems you were wrong." Presea came to stand next to the two red-heads, Raine just behind her.

The healer pulled up a chair and dropped tiredly into it, "What sort of 'unfavorable' things was this Champ into?"

Kratos sighed, "He was known as a trader. He would go from town to town to pick up what he called 'packages' and sell them to the highest bidder on the black market."

"By packages you mean people." Said Raine

"By people you mean boys." Said Presea

"By boys you mean Lloyd." Said Zelos.

Kratos nodded solemnly, "Champ had just kidnapped a twenty-one year old who he only referred to as 'My Sweet,' his mother had walked in on the kidnapping so Champ killed her in front of him. He was catatonic when I dropped him off at the hospital."

There was a palpable silence.

This man, this 'trader' had literally come out of nowhere and taken one of their own. For that alone they would hunt down this man. Now to find out that Lloyd was with him.

"Do you know how to find him?" Zelos could barely keep his anger in check.

Kratos stood up, "I can do you one better," he looked pointedly at the chosen, "I know where he keeps them."

A slow, malicious smile spread over Zelos's face, "So Mr. All Mighty, what's the plan?"

Sorry this chap took so long, and for the crappyness of it, but my brain has been somewhere else lately.

Anyway, review are much appreciated and welcomed and I will probably end up editing this chap at some point to make it better


End file.
